


Blaze of Glory

by giraffles



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: 420 blaze it, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Because i played dnd tuesday instead of finishing this, Drug Use, Explicit Language, Gen, Humor, I REGRET NOTHING, Murder, NOT EP 69 COMPLIANT, Other, Post-Canon, Some side barrylup, This podcast has ruined my life, because im a sap, rest in piss kalen, save my boy magnus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-16 14:23:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11830578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giraffles/pseuds/giraffles
Summary: One last mission for a dear friend who can't do it himself, a plate of special macarons, and absolutely no dogs on the moon.





	Blaze of Glory

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to Lilly and Lauren, who had this amazing idea so I wrote it. Not episode 69/finale compliant, because I'm in the car as I post this can't listen. Read the tags kids before adventuring further!

"You sure this is the way?" Merle asks for the third time, attempting to peer over the edge of the parchment. Taako shoos him away, pouring his concentration into trying to figure out if the map was right way up. He should have brought a compass. Or someone with any sense of direction.   
  
But there weren't many people he trusted to come along on the mission, and even fewer of them who would approve of it. It was a sensitive topic concerning a secretly sensitive man; one who would never quite understand what they were doing, regardless of the fact he had made them promise to carry out his will. Magical memory loss was a funny thing like that; because how can you miss something, be angry about something, feel _any_  emotion, if you couldn't remember it? Even now, with visions of multiple lives he's lead all clear in chronological order, there's still that headache that comes with it. The bitter guilt and anger over not knowing something so _i_ _mportant_. Which was why it was just him and Merle-- No Magnus, as strange as it felt not to have him there, because Magnus didn't know any more.     
  
"This is definitely the right way." Taako says with confidence far beyond his means. Fake it 'till you make it, he always said. (Or was it Lup who had come up with that one? Maybe things were still a little jumbled.) "Neverwinter is right over there. Beyond that hill."   
  
Merle gives him a look that says 'whatever you say, bucko', but only crosses his arms instead of protesting. The dwarf has tried to keep the mood light, and Taako appreciates that, lest the enormity of the situation overtake them. It's one thing to kill bad guys, to strike down jellies and undead and gods-know-what still hid in the dark corners of the world. It's quite another to be actively seeking out someone to murder them. It's not even the murder part that has him distracted. That's easy, and the scumbag deserves it, deserves it a hundred times over for hurting someone so dear.   
  
What's got him a little shaken in their part in this new era they've accidentally created. The Day of Story and Song will live on in the collective consciousness of so, so many planes of existence, and they'll always be at the center of it all. Any where they go now, people _know_. They know of the Starblaster crew, their journey through universes, they know their faces and deeds and some of the stupider things they've done. It makes a lot of things simpler. It makes tracking down a tyrant-ex-governor really fucking hard.   
  
Taako resolves to kill him extra dead for making them trudge through all of these swamps.   
  
At least anything with two brain cells knows to avoid the two of them, and anything too stupid to get in their path doesn't live long. He can't believe he ever forgot this power, these things that make up his very core, and it's good to burn off a little steam on twig blights and awakened bushes. And now with a decade of extra adventuring under his sleeve, it's only compounded his magical ability. It's the same with all of them. Anyone would be hardpressed to find someone equal to the seven aliens that helped fight tooth and nail for their reality.   
  
"D'ya think he's okay?" It's a rhetorical question at heart, yet Merle asks it aloud anyway.   
  
"Pff, he's fine." Taako insists as he climbs over a fallen stump and tangle of exposed roots. He has to stop and pull Merle out of the snare when he inevitably gets himself stuck. "I'm sure he's carving ducks or playing ninja or whatever."   
  
It's almost too good, how he's able to lie to everyone. Including himself. Because it still feels wrong to be off galavanting without Magnus. They'd been together for so long, been through tailor made hells and cosmic turmoil as a team. It feels _wrong_.   
  
Merle sighs. "I know, I know. It's for the best. I still feel bad though."   
  
"He's fine," Taako repeats, "I made sure someone would be there to keep him busy."   
  
And it had been such a trial to arrange everything. Because he had to do it in a way that kept Magnus in the dark while also not raising his suspicions. Luckily, Magnus had been willing enough to accept excuses and place enough trust in them to not notice anything. And maybe _that's_  really what has him in a bad mood, the fact that him and Merle had to betray a man so open and honest. A man who nearly stumbled into their secret meetings about plans and intel one too many times.   
  
Taako can't wait to find Kalen and pop one in his ass.   


* * *

  
  
He doesn't catch what Magnus says, but whatever it was, it has Lup laughing hysterically, nearly wheezing as she rolls off the bed. He should really see if she's okay, but judging by her muffled giggles, she's fine for the moment. Barry puts his hand in the cheeto bag, only to come back confused and cheese-less. Had they really finished the whole thing already?   
  
"Shh, shh!" Magnus attempts through his own snickers, "You have to be really quiet or it won't work!"   
  
"What won't work?" Barry asks. Instead of answering, Magnus rolls onto the floor beside Lup. She's trying to catch her breath, but breaks down any time she tries to look at the fighter. Barry joins them only because Magnus produces a tin of pringles out of somewhere, and certainly not because he felt left out or anything. Certainly not because it's real nice to lay next to Lup and just _be_ , while she's vibrant and warm and very much alive. A lightning strike in mortal form, brimming with destructive potential and yet so _sweet_  in a way that nearly broke him when she didn't come back. Nah. He's here for the pringles.   
  
"Lavender." Magnus declares, and Lup loses it again.     
  
"The cookies?" They had been vanilla lavender macaroons, right? With enough of each to cover up the pungent drug Lup added to the batch. Where did she even find weed on a moonbase?   
  
"Those were _chamomile_ ," Lup sounds almost offended, "He means what you sound like, babe."   
  
However that doesn't lend any clarity to the statement.   
  
"Shhhh!" Magnus places his hands over both their mouths, "You can _hear color_."   
  
The concept is absolutely absurd, because senses don't work like that, and yet he's seriously considering it. Time has already gone a little funky, slipping sideways and slowing to a crawl. The scholar in him has a little voice that pipes up to say that it's just the altered state they're all in-- but it's soft and hazy, and goes quiet even as he tries to chase the trails of academic thought. Lup is laughing again, and it reminds him of the conservatory, of the way the sun caught her hair on an illuminated afternoon, how they shone like strands of gold. Golden and warm and all wrapped up in each other.   
  
"Holy shit." Barry says.   
  
"I can do you one better," Lup interjects, "Don't move."   
  
"Why not?"   
  
"Just trust me." She pats both of them on the arm, though she lingers on his. And they're still for a moment, and then another, even though there's a sensation that the world is trying to move around them. He could stay like this for the rest of the night actually. Even fall asleep, maybe.   
  
"Woaaah," Magnus sounds blown away by some secret revelation, "I can feel the ground _moving_."   
  
"I know, right? Fuckin' crazy."   
  
Barry isn't convinced that's what they're feeling, but he lets it go. No reason to contest the fact. Not when "Operation Distract-Magnus-For-As-Long-As-Possible" was in effect. So far, so good. Hopefully they would be a little less wasted by the time that Taako and Merle got back. Hopefully, they'd be successful in their own mission, and no one would be the wiser.   
  
Then again, he had watched them work for a year. His confidence in them might be a little shaky. But that was a problem for future Barry, not high-as-hell Barry.   


* * *

  
  
"We are _not_  lost!"   
  
"It's okay to admit you made a mistake," Merle tries to be comforting, "But this isn't the right street."   
  
"We. Are. Not. Lost." Taako spits out from behind gritted teeth. The truth is, they're lost. Again. At least this time they're in the city. The really shitty part of the city. Neverwinter is still rebuilding from the ravages of the Hunger, which is heartening to see, and also made their entrance easier. Whole sections are still in ruins however, broken and sad as people try to pick up the pieces, but no one notices the two strangers in their midst. Taako had the brilliant idea to cast a camouflage spell on both of them, lest they be recognized before they could find Kalen. He's so used to having one on normally that it hadn't occurred to him at first. He played it off as waiting for the right moment.     
  
Somehow, true to their usual adventuring luck, they'd stumbled into the seedy side of town and gotten turned around. He's not scared of what anyone might try to do to them, not when Merle could backhand them into a wall with divine vengeance. It's the principle of the matter, and the fact that they're wasting time that would be better spent fulfilling a blood oath.   
  
"Just ask for directions."   
  
"No."   
  
" _Taako_ ," Merle sounds desperate, "Let's just get this over with so we can go home."   
  
Taako takes a deep breath. He's right. If anyone out of the three of them was to be the voice of reason--   
  
Two. The two of them.   
  
"Fine," he concedes, "I'll ask the next piece of riffraff we see, but I'll have you know it's not my fault if they steal all your gold."   
  
Merle makes a comment that it's usually Taako himself doing the stealing, but he barely hears him as they round a corner and nearly collide with a group of rough looking men. He has a moment of regret for making himself look like some sort of ethereal beauty. Merle looks like an unassuming and grubby halfling with the spell, mostly because he thought it would be funny. But now they're staring down three humans and someone who might be half orc, looking at them like treasure has just fallen into their laps.   
  
"Hail and well met, my dudes," He forces a smile, "Would any of you happen to know the way to the Cheap Rat?"   
  
"That's not a place for the likes of you." One leers at them, at least a full foot taller than Taako. He also smells like he hasn't showered in a week. Gross. "Full of dangerous pieces of riffraff, it is."   
  
Oops. Him and Merle make eye contact.

  
Suddenly, it's show time. He can say later that it was a badass, almost graceful fight, but it was really a lot of screaming and spell casting, over nearly as soon as it started. Merle even gets a hit in with Smoosher for good measure. Taako steps over their unconscious and bloodied bodies with disdain. At least they're not dead. He's pretty sure they're not dead. The amount of fucks he has left to give are approaching a dangerous low.   
  
"God, can't ask for one easy job." Taako complains as Merle wipes his warhammer on one of the thug's shirts.   
  
"I dunno, that was pretty easy compared to other times."   
  
"I'm not sure if anything can top some of those 'other times'," Taako air quotes, "Good shot at his knee, though."   
  
"I wasn't aiming for his knees."  Merle mutters, and he drops that thread of conversation.   


* * *

  
  
The Cheap Rat is a semi-famous pub in the Rogues Quarter of Neverwinter. It's famous for it's booze, hard-to-find location, the no questions asked policy, and again, the cheap booze. Taako has collected multiple reports of a man matching the slimeball’s description frequenting the establishment. He's reasonably sure this is where they'll find him, and if not, maybe they can get a lead to follow. It's a dingy, beat-up looking place, but is surprisingly crowded and filled with joyous voices within. Another day he might have even considered grabbing a drink there. Taako and Merle turn a few heads when they walk in, but they don't find any trouble beyond having to push through throngs of people to reach the bar. Merle is delighted to find that the barstools are specifically designed to allow shorter races to climb up them, which is explained when he realizes the woman behind the counter is a halfling. She's installed runners along the back of the bar so she can stand level with even tall elven patrons.   
  
"What'll it be, boys?" She asks in a sing-song voice. Another halfling darts behind her with multiple overflowing glasses. As tempting as it is, getting lit probably isn't the best plan. Spell casting while tipsy is a big no-no.   
  
"Nothing for me, thanks, but listen, darling," She raises an eyebrow at the pet name but he continues on, "We're looking for a friend of mine."   
  
The word 'friend' in this context is like acid on his tongue. Taako smiles through it.   
  
She pauses, then leans on the counter towards him. "What kind of friend?"   
  
"I thought people didn't ask questions here," Merle pipes in, "Or was that a different rodent-themed bar?"   
  
The halfling laughs, and starts pouring a glass of whiskey. "No, you've got the right one. Why don't you two come on back and we can talk?"   
  
That sets off a red flag or seventy, but he's not sure he wants to risk trying to read her mind on the off chance the spell will fail. For once they can't rush in and take things with brute force. And he doesn't want any collateral damage, heaven knows Kalen has already caused enough of that already. Magnus wasn't the only one who lost someone when Raven's Roost crumbled.   
  
"Alright." He agrees tersely, and Merle follows as the halfling pulls them into a backroom. The door shuts behind them and the sounds of the Cheap Rat instantly cease. Taako senses a warding barrier, typically used against eavesdropping both mundane and magical, and he tries to calm the danger alarms going off in his head. Merle shifts nervously.   
  
"I know who you are," She pulls a necklace from under her shirt, "This little baby negates most illusion spells. And may I say, I'm honored to have you both!"   
  
Her eyes sparkle with admiration even as he's running through three different escape plans. Like the idiot wizard he was, he never thought that someone might be able to counter something so simple, ruining their disguise and with it the element of surprise. Hundreds of near misses rattle around his head with the chorus of what if, what if, _what if_ ; And that's not mentioning the times things went horribly wrong regardless. Merle kicks him.   
  
Knocked out of his near-panic trance state, Taako recovers. "Well, uh, that saves us a lot of trouble then."   
  
"I'm Tuge," She offers, "Who are you looking for and what can I do to help?"   
  
They do their best to explain the situation without giving up too many personal details. The incident at Raven's Roost isn't often talked about, but Tuge already knows about it. Her face darkens when he tells her who they're chasing and why.   
  
"That mother _fucker_ ," She fishes a key out of her pocket and tosses it to Taako, "Up the stairs, fourth door on the left. Try not to get blood on everything, yeah?"   
  
"Loud 'n clear, miss," Merle nods, "Thanks for your time."   
  
"Let me know if you need anything else!" Tuge calls after them as they slip out of her warded room and bolt up the tavern stairs. Stealth is neither of their's forte, so he's thankful now for the ruckus of the bar customers below. Even so, they creep along the wall, moving as only fast as they dared to. Taako can barely focus past the rapid fire pace of his heart, ramped up on adrenaline and fear and maybe a little thrill. They reach the fourth door on the left. He places the key in the slot and turns it slowly. They both slip in before slamming it shut behind them.   
  
"What the hell?" Snaps a man at the desk. He's aged, but still looking well off enough to maybe pass as nobility. Graying. A little fat. "Who the hell are you?"   
  
Taako dismisses the camouflage spell on both of them. Kalen's eyes go wide. "Your worst nightmare."   
  
He takes out his wand and Merle casts zone of truth. Because of course he does. At least he's good at it.   
  
"It's not--"   
  
"Oh no," Merle waves Smoosher, "Oh no, you don't get to try to explain yourself. End of the line, bub."   
  
"We were asked to do one thing, and one thing only," Taako snarls, "And that was to kill you fucking dead. _This is for Julia_."   
  
Kalen doesn't have time to grovel before he's shredded by a high-level magic missile.   


* * *

  
  
The trip home to the Bureau of Balance headquarters is done in relative silence. He doesn't want to admit how good it felt to murder that bastard in cold blood. He doesn't want to think about how exhausted it all made him. They sit in the ball in the carrier bay for longer than they need to, quiet, until Avi raps on the glass door.   
  
"Uh, guys?"   
  
"We're comin'." Merle sighs and pushes the hatch open. Taako follows, mostly on autopilot as Avi chatters about something or other--   
  
"Wait, back up, Magnus is _what?_ "   
  
"Crying in the middle of the quad," Avi confirms, "I'm not sure why. The Director-- I mean, Lucretia, she's already there."   
  
He groans. He asked Lup to do one goddamn thing. Today has already dragged on too long. Taako braces himself for what they might find while they hurry up to the main level.   
  
Lucretia is indeed there, looking more exasperated than concerned, with Magnus sobbing on the grass and Lup gently patting his shoulder. Barry looks like he's asleep face down under a nearby tree. Other employees are giving them a wide berth, with no one even attempting to come close to find out what's wrong. It's a very suspicious scene.   
  
" _There_  you two are," Lucretia looks relieved, "He's been like this for the past half hour."   
  
"What even happened?"   
  
"I promise I'll take care of it and everything!" Magnus weeps, "I can even build a fence so it can't run off the edge of the moon!"   
  
"I told him he couldn't get a dog," She explains, "And I really just meant he can't go while he's so... intoxicated? Honestly, I'm not sure what the three of them got into."   
  
Taako has a pretty good idea.   
  
"It's okay buddy," he hears Lup begin, "I'll go steal you fifty puppies. How does that sound? As many puppies as your big arms can hold."   
  
Magnus sniffles. Then he starts crying harder. Lucretia rubs her face.   
  
"I guess he's mostly fine." Merle says. Taako tries not to laugh.   
  
"I can't protect that many puppies!" Magnus wails.  "How am I supposed to protect them all?"   
  
"Yeah," Taako agrees, "I think he's gonna be just fine."   
  



End file.
